MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he enjoyed the recent British TV adaptation of renowned novel War and Peace.

Speaking at a media forum held by the All-Russian Popular Front political movement, the president said he loved patriot films, specifically the 1966 Oscar-winning Russian language version of Leo Tolstoy’s classic.

Putin said he was impressed by English language versions of the novel — especially the BBC’s version starring Lily James and James Norton. I also watched it and I liked it. It seems to me that they were able after all to capture the Russian soul, the epoch and the depth of Tolstoy’s thought.

Putin mentioned the films by Stanislav Govorukhin who also participated in the media forum.

“These films can be watched an endless number of times,” the Russian leader said. According to Putin, “good intentions as the prevailing theme and love, love in the broadest meaning of the word, are the main thing in art in general and in the art of cinema.”

Putin also said that problems existed in Russia with the promotion of domestic films. He urged to restore a chain of movie theaters in the country.